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SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

thran.uk

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Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#51

Post by mrpippy »

Waterluvian wrote: post #11
squeedles wrote: post #4

I was surprised to see SC3k described as isometric like 2k. I recall versions after 2k being "look anywhere" 3D, but I guess I missed some versions. So many games, like Railroad Tycoon post RRT2 and Worms went full 3D and gameplay was never the same. I actually keep a Basilisk II System 7.5 Mac environment just so that I can play SC2k from time to time ...

A small frustration I have with playing old games is that the GOG/Steam version is always the PC original and the Mac versions almost always had far better sound and music and sometimes graphics.

I feel like that's true for early/mid-90s games where the PC version targeted DOS (+ the varied universe of PC video/sound hardware), and the Mac version could just target the much more uniform Mac platform.

But SimCity 3000 is from 1999, and the PC version was a normal Win9x game. I own (still have the CD) the SimCity 3000 Mac port, and it is not very good. Maxis didn't port it themselves, it was done by Software MacKiev. System requirements were quite high for the time, it was sluggish, often unstable, and the file open/save dialogs reused the Windows-style dialogs which was very awkward.

The soundtrack is great though.

Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#52

Post by TheGRS »

jedberg wrote: post #25
sp1nningaway wrote: post #17

Sim City 3k is my least played Sim City game, but this is inspiring me to take another look. I really like the sweaty micromanagement and bigger scope of 4, but maybe I will prefer 3k's simplicity in my old age. The picture caption with a 9/11 joke is a little off-putting, but it's at least proof that this isn't AI generated content...

> The picture caption with a 9/11 joke is a little off-putting 9/11 seems to be an important milestone in his life. In the about section of his web page it says this: Q:/> How old are you? A:/> I can't remember the collapse of the Soviet Union, but I can remember 9/11.

I always thought of 9/11 as the major event for older millennials. I used to think it was all millennials, but many weren't even in kindergarten when it happened.

Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#53

Post by dawnerd »

xerox13ster wrote: post #21
dawnerd wrote: post #7

I hope GOG makes this all an easy to install mod/patch.

Replace the executable, even on a Steam copy.

There's more than just the widescreen patch. It would be really nice if they automated configuring and installing the other tweaks to make it really playable.

Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#54

Post by auto »

nielsbot wrote: post #26

> SimCity 3000 is the best SimCity I disagree! SimCity 2K FTW. :) Best balance of complexity IMO and ran pretty well on my old Mac. I'd love a retro-futuristic reboot.

Not sure to what extent you're looking for a reboot to be representative of the original, but I've been following the development of this indie spiritual successor for some time: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287430/Metropolis_1998/

Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#55

Post by hypfer »

foo12bar wrote: post #43
Paul_S wrote: post #31

What a strange person, from the same author: https://www.thran.uk/writ/yarn/2025/03/road-rage-maxxing-or-... I don't understand how you can feel morally superior by blocking the overtaking lane and letting people through if they're respectful enough.

Tailgating in a massive SUV is not disrespectful, it's dangerous to other person. Why encourage this behavior by immediately letting them through?

I suppose the middle ground is to just continue what you were doing with a slight negative factor of idk 0.8x speed.

Don't let the people win, but also do not suddenly assume powers you do not actually have.

Essentially, plausible deniability but on the road. You might really just be a slow passing slow lane changing driver.

___

The goal is to reintroduce friction into everyday life to nudge people into being less antisocial and/or make them slightly suffer for being that.

The goal is not to become a vigilante.

One brings a stable society, the other just a different flavor of the same chaos that came before.

Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#56

Post by dylan604 »

arjie wrote: post #12

This was one of my favourite games. City simulators took up an enormous amount of my childhood and I still dream about arcologies. When I see a modern development like Brentwood in Canada's BC or some older ones like along the river in Chicago it reminds me of the wonders we can build. As an aside since it's in the article, what are other cultures' irreverent targets? e.g. Anglo-cultures seem to casually joke about d…

> and I still dream about arcologies

even after 9/11 and London's Greenfeel Tower fire? The vertical living seems very strained to me after events like that. Sure, they are not common issues, but there's always that thought in the back of my mind of what if.

Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#57

Post by dessimus »

foo12bar wrote: post #43
Paul_S wrote: post #31

What a strange person, from the same author: https://www.thran.uk/writ/yarn/2025/03/road-rage-maxxing-or-... I don't understand how you can feel morally superior by blocking the overtaking lane and letting people through if they're respectful enough.

Tailgating in a massive SUV is not disrespectful, it's dangerous to other person. Why encourage this behavior by immediately letting them through?

You don't know why they are tailgating or in a rush. For all anyone knows, they could have a passenger in a medical emergency.

Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#58

Post by cguess »

nico wrote: post #33

Loved SimCity growing up. Would it be possible to automate porting the windows version into a mac or web version? Like giving a long-running agent the task and some tools to check/play the game on both platforms?

SimCity 4 has a native Mac build, it's on Steam. Most of the modding community uses Windows now though since the .dll hacks became feasible.

Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#59

Post by phaser »

I love this game so much. One of the reasons I started to make a city builder* is because I don't like where the genre is going.

The focus on photorealism in modern city builders took away the apophenia, or "food for imagination" that was a core element since the first SimCity. As a matter of fact, Will Wright used to say that the real simulation runs in the player's minds (or something like that).

Sure, there's something great about Cities Skylines that (at least with very powerful hardware) can look and feel like reality. But at the same time the game engine, in order to make this photorealism of terrain elevations with infinite possible shapes of infrastructure, is so complex that the actual simulation is sloppy, and feels to me like a big downgrade from SC3000.

Traffic, economics, zoning, crime, pollution. are so much practical to simulate (both in the computer, and in our mind models) in this classic isometric style.

* https://microlandia.city

edit: spelling

Re: SimCity 3k in 4k (2025)

#60

Post by jiggawatts »

dylan604 wrote: post #56
arjie wrote: post #12

This was one of my favourite games. City simulators took up an enormous amount of my childhood and I still dream about arcologies. When I see a modern development like Brentwood in Canada's BC or some older ones like along the river in Chicago it reminds me of the wonders we can build. As an aside since it's in the article, what are other cultures' irreverent targets? e.g. Anglo-cultures seem to casually joke about d…

> and I still dream about arcologies even after 9/11 and London's Greenfeel Tower fire? The vertical living seems very strained to me after events like that. Sure, they are not common issues, but there's always that thought in the back of my mind of what if.

The Grenfell fire was caused by petty corruption. Someone involved in its construction used a cheaper flammable cladding material instead of the (slightly!!) more expensive fire resistant version.

It’s very on-brand for places like Russia and China but clearly western countries are not immune to this kind of thing either.

After the fire there were investigations into towers constructed here in Australia. Many used the cheaper flammable cladding material also. Just like with Grenfell, nothing much was done and nobody went to prison.

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